Business Decisions: Do Rankings on Google Matter that Much?

23 May Business Decisions: Do Rankings on Google Matter that Much?

Not on Google? You’re Missing out on the Richest Source of Leads and Sales

If you’re jumping head first into social media and PPC for leads and sales, you might want to check out the real facts about whether Google is a better source. Certainly you’ll be using both and the truth is they work together very well to create big successes.

However, if Google mobile searchers aren’t finding your business, that’s a problem, and not being visible on desktop searches is a serious loss for B2B sales. Restaurants, real estate agents, hotels, and services companies lose a great deal of business by not being easily accessible to mobile searchers. Mobile SEO is rising in importance.

There’s a lot of hope and hype for social media sales as spending is predicted to increase however the bare facts are that search offers better results and isn’t something to neglect in the digital era. This is because when consumers are eager to buy, they use Google to find products and services. They don’t go to Facebook.

If you like stats, you’ll appreciate what this one from eco2 Greetings Cards. CTR rates are 5 times higher and you can bet that conversion rates are just as high because organic search visitors come through with higher velocity and intent to purchase.

For companies that choose SEO, they see more more visitors and revenue than any other source. SEO means high rankings, more visibility and branding value because Google is highly used and respected. You get to take advantage of all Google’s hard work for free.

Hotel SEO – Very Lucrative

My client, a national hotel chain saw its traffic double from 1.2 million visits per year to 2.5 million visits per year because I optimized their site to rank highly on Google. It’s more difficult today which is why many hotels have given up. They shouldn’t give up. It’s still a bonanza of traffic.

Advertisers on Google Adwords pay $4 to $6 per click for many of these high volume keyword searches as you can see in the graphic below. One million free organic search visitors can equate to $6 million in added cost savings plus the revenue from tens of thousands of bookings. 75,000 bookings x $400 average booking translates to $25 million per year. And they may repeat bookings if they like the hotel. The brand value then extends many years and keeps on producing. Hotel SEO is obviously very profitable and in my client’s case perhaps up to $16 million per year. How’s your hotel chain doing?

Here’s some facts about Google searches whether on desktop/laptops or mobile devices:

Google has 90% of the Internet search market

People rely on Google’s services so heavily that when they all went down for 5 minutes in 2013, global internet traffic dropped by 40% – Business Insider

SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (such as direct mail or print advertising) have a 1.7% close rate. – Search Engine Journal

Google’s search and advertising tools helped provide $111 billion of economic activity for more than 1.5 million businesses in the US – Google

On average, there are 11 billion searches per month in the United States or 2.3 million per minute. – Comscore

Mobile searches equal desktop searches in number – Google

According to Hotels.com, 74% of mobile bookings are made for same-day check-in.

70-80% of users ignore the paid ads, and only focus on the free organic results. – Search Engine Land

Searches for luxury cars grew nearly 90% on mobile from 2014 to 2015.

Rings are among the most mobile-searched type of jewelry, followed by necklaces, bracelets, and earrings.

Mobile makes up 88% of all “near me” searches, with those mobile searches growing at 146% year over year – Search Engine Journal.

An interesting search stat comes from Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland which revealed that the volume of searches for real estate agents is a good indicator of housing demand. Their stat shows that demand for real estate agents hasn’t caught up to the Case Schiller price index, suggesting there is much room for growth.

The search trends tell us that real estate agents should be building their web content and rankings now to capitalize on the coming increase in searches for realtors.

Do You Need Lots of High Quality Content?

There’s plenty of content on the web and social pages, however good content can create a lot of leads. Think about these stats:

The average content length for a web page that ranks in the top 10 results for any keyword on Google has at least 2,000 words. The higher up you go on the search listings page, the more content each web page has. – QuickSprout

(and you’ll want to use social media and search together as a powerful tag team)

Image courtesy of MDG Advertising

The market in real estate is consistently strong across Canada and the US, and homebuyers and sellers are searching on Google to buy a home or condo. Canadian realtors, the forecast for Toronto’s housing market is hot to very hot.

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Looking for a Vancouver SEO Consultant, Toronto SEO Consultant, Boston SEO Consultant, or Los Angeles SEO consultant? I’ve been all of that and more over the last 18 years. Make a commitment and outsource SEO to a professional and over the long runI’ll be able to advise you, assist you, and continue producing a wealth of leads via Google search. Yes, we can acquire immediate leads, but let’s not lose site of your need to build lasting equity online. A check of the rankings in your city will reveal your top competitors who are enjoying brand visibility, traffic, and customer loyalty because of their Google rankings. It’s your turn to shine. Let’s get started!

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Real Estate Forecasts

Is 2018 the year you should buy a house or condo? With the recent stock market volatility, you’re likely wondering if you should wait, just like many stock market investors are. Housing is different than stocks. The chance of a crash is slim, and housing is in strong demand with limited availability. Crash or not, real estate bought at low mortgage rates should be a solid purchase.